At 12:00 PM UTC, The deep depression over central & adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards, further intensified into a cyclonic storm. Cyclonic Storm Bijli lays centered near 15.0N 86.5E, or about 470 kms southeast of Visakhapatnam, 750 kms west-northwest of Port Blair, and 900 kms southwest of Pathein, Myanmar. The system is likely to intensify further and move in a north northwesterly direction for some more time.

Under its influence, rain/thundershower at many places with isolated heavy falls is likely over coastal area of north Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.

Squally winds speed reaching 50-60 km/h gusting to 70 kmph are likely along and off north Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal coasts during next 48 hours commencing from tomorrow morning. Sea condition will be rough to very rough.

Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea along and off these coasts.

Satellite imagery shows curved band pattern of the system. Associated broken intense to very intense convection is seen over Bay of Bengal between 13.0N to 19.0N and west of 90.0E. The lowest cloud top temperature due to convection is around -60C. The Dvorak intensity of the system is T2.5 RPT=2.5 The forecast intensity during the next 24 hours is T3.0.

Maximum 3 minute sustained winds near the center is 40 knots with a minimum central pressure of 996 hPa. The state of the sea is very rough to high around the system's center.

Vertical wind shear of horizontal wind over the region is between 5 to 10 knots. 24 hours shear tendency is negative to the northwest of the system. The system lies close to south of the upper tropospheric ridge, which roughly runs along 17.0N.

ExpandCollapse

Super Célula

Thousands of people were evacuated from the coastal areas along the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh as a tropical storm began lashing the disaster-prone country on Friday. Cyclone Bijli was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday, according to UN World Meteorological Organization's meteorological centre for the region. But the storm still packed 80 km/h winds as it struck Bangladesh's coastline on Friday, triggering high waves and a tidal surge expected to be three metres above normal tide levels.
Thousands of people fled the coastal areas for shelters established by emergency service officials. More than 10,000 people evacuated the Cox's Bazar resort district in the low-lying delta country as the storm moved in, battering the thatched houses in the region and uprooting trees. Officials were reporting heavy rain and widespread power outages.
Move to shelters, coastal residents warned - The storm was about 250 kilometres southwest of Chittagong, where it was expected to make landfall early Saturday, according to the meteorological organization. Authorities are advising people in coastal districts, including Cox's Bazar, Barisal, Barguna and Chittagong, to move to shelters immediately. The storm is also expected to hit the Mongla port, meteorologists said.
Bangladesh grades storm systems on a range of one to 10, and was labelling Bijli as a Level 6 storm alert on Friday. Though the meteorological organization was forecasting that the storm would continue to weaken before making landfall, Bangladeshi officials said they were preparing for the possibility of widespread disaster. "We have opened an emergency control room in the [disaster management] ministry and at all field level offices, particularly in coastal areas," A.H.M. Abdullah, director of the Disaster Management Bureau, told Reuters.
Severe storms and cyclones are common in Bangladesh and generally result in casualties, crop damage and the destruction of property. In 1991, a cyclone killed about 140,000 people. In 2007, Cyclone Sidr killed about 3,000.
Preparing for landfall - The storm could result in the need to move out millions of people, officials said. Thousands of volunteers with Red Crescent are already operating in the country, and security, rescue and medical workers are preparing for landfall in the area, officials said. There are more than 500 cyclone shelters along the 300-km coastline with the capacity to house about 500,000 people.
Flights from area airports were suspended on Friday and activity in local ports was cancelled. Boats had been ordered to take shelter on Thursday. Many offshore islands are already caught in the storm. It is believed that several fishing boats had not reached shore before the cyclone moved in and are now caught in rough seas, officials said.
In neighbouring Myanmar, also known as Burma, residents along the coast were being urged to stay away from the sea over the next two days while the storm moves through the region.

ExpandCollapse

Super Célula

A cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 65-75 km per hour is likely to hit the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast on Monday evening accompanied by heavy to very heavy rains, the Met office said on Sunday. "A deep depression lay 500 km south of Kolkata at 2:30 pm which is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm and hit the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast by tomorrow evening," Regional Director of the Met office, G C Debnath, said here.
Gale winds with speed reaching 65-75 km per hour and gusting to 85 km per hour were likely to blow along and off West Bengal coast from this evening, he said. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at most places with isolated extremely heavy falls (more than 25 cm) over Gangetic West Bengal and north coastal Orissa.
Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall was also likely over the north-eastern states, met department sources said. "The sea condition will be high along and off West Bengal coast. Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea till Tuesday," Mr. Debnath said.
The sea was likely to be rough to very rough along and off the Orissa coast. The cyclone was likely to advance the onset of monsoon in Gangetic West Bengal by more than 10 days.

ExpandCollapse

Super Célula

Bangladesh on Monday evacuated hundreds of thousands of people to emergency shelters on the southwestern coast as a cyclone hit the country, as well as neighbouring India, officials said. Government weather forecaster Sanaul Haq said Cyclone Aila made landfall between Bangladesh's Khulna district and Sagar Island in India's West Bengal state, unleashing a tidal surge as high as two metres (seven feet).
"It has already started hitting Bangladesh's coast, with a maximum wind speed of 90 kilometres (56 miles) per hour. We have reports that a tidal surge has inundated many coastal villages," the Bangladeshi official said. In Khulna, which borders India, some 100,000 people had been moved to shelters as strong winds unleashed two-metre water surges, according to the district chief Ziaul Alam.
"A huge swathe of low-lying areas have already been submerged by brackish tidal water. The surge has already breached embankments in a number of villages along the coast," he told AFP by telephone after the cyclone hit. "People who live in bamboo shacks have already taken shelter in their nearest cyclone shelter. We have also mobilised thousands of volunteers to prepare for the worst," Alam had said earlier.
The surge has flooded the town of Barguna, in the district of the same name, with other low-lying areas and islands in the vicinity also under water after levees overflowed, Barguna chief Swapan Kumar Sarker told AFP by phone. "We have evacuated some 100,000 people to the district's cyclone shelters. Schools and colleges have been ordered to give shelter to the affected people," he said.
District chiefs in neighbouring Satkhira, Patuakhali and Bagerhat said that they evacuated another 230,000 people as tidal surge along with strong wind and heavy rains hit the coastal villages. "Tidal water has entered Bagerhat town, submerging all the roads. We have reports that a five to seven feet surge has flooded scores of villages along the coastal rivers," said Khusru, who uses one name, a magistrate of the town. "We are sending medical teams, charity workers to the affected areas with food and drinking water."AFP

Cyclone 'Aila' lashes Calcutta with rains, lightening

STRONG WINDS accompanied by lightening and thunderstorms lashed Calcutta for two hours as Cyclone Aila hit coastal West Bengal on Monday afternoon.
Metro services have also been severely affected as some of the stations were inundated in the downpour. Reports said that train services have also been suspended as rail track was submerged under water in many places.
Police officials in city have advised the schools to close as soon as possible and also asked daily commuters to return the safety of their homes. Red alert has also been sounded in many areas and warning has been issued to people asking them to avoid going out during the storm.
Several thousand people in coastal areas have also been evacuated particularly from Sagar Islands, Sunderbans and Digha.merinews

ExpandCollapse

Super Célula

The Indian Coast Guard is searching for 100 fishermen that are missing in the Arabian Sea after Cyclone Phyan hit India's western coastal region. The storm which crossed the Konkan and Mumbai region is the first cyclonic storm to hit the area in November for 43 years and is already being blamed for at least seven deaths. According to reports rescue crews are searching for the missing fishermen on Maharashtra state's 474 mile Konkan coastal region. Government officials confirmed the deaths of seven fishermen and 14 being injured in the heavily hit Ratnagiri district which bore the brunt of the cyclone's power before it weakened.
Phyan was the result of a deep depression over the east central Arabian Sea which covered into a storm by Tuesday night and then moved towards Mumbai on Wednesday. Weather experts say the cyclone weakened into a tropical storm as it passed over the coast late Wednesday afternoon. The region is now under severe weather warnings as a deluge of rain and winds topping 55 mile per hour.
Damage estimates in the area say 7,575 homes were partly damaged and 96 homes in the district were destroyed. With the winds and rains battering the area the region's power infrastructure was also heavily affected. Power supply is out in some places as hundreds of electric poles were uprooted or blown away. Local media reports show many large uprooted trees blocking both local streets and state highways further hindering rescue and relief efforts.
Aside from the physical damage the region's economy was also heavily hit. Scores of fishermen were likely to be unemployed as nearly 300 boats and 2,000 fishing nets were damaged and rice crops and fruit orchards have been completely destroyed or lay under water. State officials predict damage caused by the cyclone to property, agriculture and horticulture at may top $43 million dollars.
Over a review of weather patterns throughout the last 100 years just a handful of storms have hit so late in the year. In November 1946 saw three cyclonic storms cross through the region, 1947 and 1948 had one storm each and in 1912, there was one cyclonic storm in November in the region.